Night sky
blooms
like spiny oysters

Lapis sand
lies curled
in my memory

Opal moons
splash black pearls
over your throat

I still see you
driving
across the local
brussels sprouts field
in your red mustang

Convinced
your passport
that only mentioned your dreams
not your actual address
would get you
where you wanted to go

I doubt you regret
leaving behind
the things
you clung to
so urgently
now that
you own
the night sky

A barn owl’s
white wings
stretch far
into the night sky

A lone shooter’s
bulleted dreams
at a late harvest

I do not feel
the moon’s earth-shine
cross my shoulders
halo-like
the way my ancestors did

She had her back to us
cigar smoldering
Cuban seed
she said
only the best
homegrown
among
exotic orchids
and windowsill basil

She was difficult
listened to cicadas
wore pontiac pink lipstick
loved night swimming

She hoped to spot an owl
secretly in love
with jaguars
but seeing a fox at day break
made her day

Loving everything Cuban
she refused to visit Habana
not wanting anything to interfere
with her dream scape
or her much-loved
Buena Vista Social Club

I outgrew her
many times
forgave her
punished her
tried to reason
but could not change
a thing

Night wind
in a white dress

Clouds
in black

Sound stretching like a cat

Bumba rapa ba ba

Tell me,
what is that music?

Yo quiero
your keyboard of dreams
Where my forgotten
feelings
sit like old bricks
to fire up
the kiln

FOTO POEM # 6

At Guevavi Ranch

It takes a thousand sticks
to cast a single shadow

Blind-folded by sitting
on cement porch for hours
we follow
barn swallows’
jagged flight
shearing the pond’s dark water
hear the
white-washed skeletal sky
moan

And remember
our old shoes
covered in mud
we always tried to remove
for no reason
at all

FOTO POEM # 7

Yavapai rain turns to sand

& August endures
like us
alone like
one gold finch feather.

“No Big Horn Sheep today, just stones,” a boy repeats.

Our moonless faces
reflect the
Santa Rita dark lavender shoulders
like a crescent
of misunderstandings
tied to each of our arms,
hands

We wait for the rain
to subside
before
opening up again

Silvia Scheibli, Rio Rico, Arizona